Adaptive Object-Models 1

The unrelenting pace of change that confronts contemporary software developers compels them to make their applications more configurable, flexible, and adaptable. The era where business rules are buried in Cobol code is coming to an end. Today, users themselves may seek to dynamically change their business rules. Customers require systems that more easily adapt to changing business needs, meet their unique requirements, and scale to large and small installations. On the other hand, the same technique is adequate for the slightly different purpose of producing a whole line of software products : of course, a line of products may be obtained by variously instantiating an abstract model, but also by adapting a given initial system to various requirements that appear simultaneously instead of evolving in time. Moreover, the diversification of a successful product may be also seen as a form of re-engineering.